If they happen to start posting news as fast, or even faster, than TORn, then I will definitely start to believe it. Or if they give some sort of announcement on their site (which I have not yet looked for). My LJMy art site

It's definitely New Line; much the same concept as the Official Movie Site for the LOTR movies. Koru: Maori symbol representing a fern frond as it opens. The koru reaches towards the light, striving for perfection, encouraging new, positive beginnings.

"Life can't be all work and no TORn" -- jflower

"I take a moment to fervently hope that the camaradarie and just plain old fun I found at TORn will never end" -- LOTR_nutcase

What made LOTR so exciting in TORN's Elder Days was spontaneous things like Harry Knowles hanging out on the set with Peter and co and yes, this loose climate resulting in the evolution of TORN! When Peter Jackson wanted to answer his "20 Questions" segements on AICN, it wasn't filtered by The Suits. At least as far as I know.

This is a desperate, cash-strapped corporation clamping down and taking control. Sending a message to the fans, and us in particular, that from now on, we will be spoon-fed whatever The Suits want us to see. And PJ will not be "involved." There will be none of what made TORN what it was..none of the freewheeling atmopshere.

We, the fans, are being made into passive motes now. This is payback for hwat we tried to do a year ago. We are being sent a message.

The only thing worse than a faceless corporation sucking the life out of your story is a cash-strapped and desperate studio determined not to rock the boat and being a bunch of control freaks, Get used to be reduced in imprtance and being another cog in The Machine--like any other website.

Am I crazy? A conspiracy theorist? Watch what plays out over the next few months, folks. I have hunches and none are any good....

To think that Lovely Bones just wrapped, and only Tintin (which he didn't even commit to until the summer?) is the only thing keeping him from directing....

... but I don't think things at New Line are quite that sinister. At least not consciously.

Desperate and somewhat clueless, yes, but not sinister.

The way I see it, NL's highly-paid Marketing Executives were probably really surprised by how fervently the Internet community hopped aboard their bandwagon back when this whole LOTR thing started. It was lightning in a bottle as far as they were concerned. A lot of lightning. In a big bottle. I'm sure those highly-paid Marketing Executives were absolutely thrilled that there was such a big audience out there that was so passionate about the material and so emotionally invested in their films. They were no doubt thrilled and excited that an army of what amounted to unpaid volunteers were essentially advertising the hell out of their movies -- for free.

My guess is, this time around, the Honchos and Big-Wigs at NL looked around the room at some board meeting or other and said to those same highly paid Marketing Executives: "Hey, let's have that Internet thing happen again."

Anyhow, those same highly-paid Marketing Executives (still looking a little sheepish from being outshined by that army of unpaid volunteers from the last go-round) then decide they need to be more "proactive" about their on-line strategies. Which means, essentially, that they're going to essentially copy what's already out there in order to look as though they know what they're doing. In order to justify their paychecks.

So instead of doing things the right way, by simply going back to the existing fan community and engaging them directly, they try to build their own "blog" -- a term the Marketing Executives no doubt learned from their kids.

(Slightly off-topic ... but the notion of a blog being run by the studio is also somewhat puzzling to me. Wasn't the whole idea of the "blog" originally supposed to be for independent, unaffiliated, everyday people to get a chance to have their voices heard? Not big companies or entrenched institutions, but work-a-day folks? So how is it that a company like New Line can start its own blog? Shouldn't that, instead, be considered an official movie website? Doesn't corporate ownership defeat the whole purpose and definition of "blogging"?)

(Of course I also suppose that makes about as much sense as an "indie" production company being owned by a giant, multi-national media conglomerate. Like ... I don't know ... New Line being owned by Time Warner. Doesn't seem very "indie" now does it.)

Anyhow, back on topic ...

In the end, I don't think this is a case of New Line trying to clamp the lid down on free speech or anything quite so sinister. But I do think it's kind of a weak attempt to mimic what we've already accomplished for them. It's an attempt by a studio to try to figure out how to make the Internet work for them. But in a way they can take credit for.

I don't think it's solely a function of desperation -- though that could certainly be a factor in NL's case -- because all the studios have been trying (and mostly failing) to figure out how to use the Internet. Ever since the Blair Witch Project internet hub-bub threw the whole movie industry for a loop. Hollywood just doesn't "get" the Internet. They know that there's money to be made there ... but they can't wrap their heads around it. Every time they think they have it figured out ... it changes. So what do they do? They copy what they've seen work before. (Which is a very Hollywood model. Just look at the flood of remakes and sequels we've seen in recent years.)

I don't see NL as being like Nixon in the later years -- sweaty and paranoid and desperate to have absolute control over every scrap of information. Because you're going to see plenty of material on fan sites. You're going to see interviews, production videos and set visits pop up online. Sites like AICN and TORn aren't going anywhere and NL knows that. They'll play ball. These fan sites are part of "the business" now. They're a real thing that studios have to deal with. Plus, Peter Jackson is going to do what Peter Jackson wants to do. If he feels like talking to the fans directly, he's going to. He may seem all cute and fuzzy, but he's a hugely powerful force in the industry. He's an 800-lb gorilla in Hollywood and NL knows they need his complete cooperation. I seriously doubt they'll try to push him around or control him when it comes to publicity.

In the end, the only thing that's really happening here is that NL is trying to copy TORn with their Hobbit Blog. But they'll soon see that it's not necessary (or possible). At the end of the day, TORn will still be the coolest place on earth and the Hobbit Blog will simply be their official movie site.

Just like it is now! "In Hollywood the screenplay is a fire hydrant. And there's a line of dogs around the block." -- Frank Miller

That was a fun read! I absolutely agree with you on NL's attempts here. They know that it was the power of the public that made those films a success... as much as other films have not done so well ;)

The whole time I was reading your description of their attempts as using the internet, I kept chuckling and saying to myself, "Geez guys, Peter already knows all about that! Let him and us do our thing!"

I really enjoyed your post. A calm, sensible voice in a storm of voices :)